Ninja Justice
by NoMoreNormalcy
Summary: Randy Cunningham had just defeated the Sorcerer, a powerful spellcaster that was locked underneath Norrisville High, as the Ninja, the local town hero. However, upon receiving a call from his best friend, he learns he's now moving out of the state. What new adventures will he find? Rated T for violence and some occasional language.
1. Moving Day

Randy Cunningham was having a good day. Then the news that he and his mother were moving hit him emotionally as heavy as the moving truck they were loading everything onto. The boy stood there at the sidewalk leading up to his house, eyes wide and mouth agape, unable to string any two words coherently together. He kicked his dark purple zip-up McKicks – the popular brand of shoes in his hometown of Norrisville – and stared morosely at the scene with sapphire blue eyes. His hands were in the pockets of his skinny jeans, thumb idly tugging at his red t-shirt with a single white blocky swirl. The lanky boy finally took his hands out of his jean pockets and drew his dark purple jacket around himself. "I'm … moving?" he finally croaked out, eyes watering. His messy purple hair was ruffled in a stiff breeze that seemed to emphasize his question. His best friend stood to his left, staring at the "For Sale" sign that had clued him into the move and resulted in telling Randy. He was a short, rotund teen with ginger hair coifed up at the front. He kicked his own red McKicks in the sidewalk and tugged at both his navy-blue squid t-shirt and light blue overshirt. Shoving his hands into dark green cargo shorts pockets did little to inspire him to cheer up his best friend. Randy spoke up again. "Howard, I- well, I don't know what to do. I don't think anyone's got a good answer to this."

"I think I do," Howard replied, watching the movers move the last of the boxes into the truck. He winced when one dropped a box and a sound of breaking glass was heard. He looked back to Randy. "Don't forget to call, man. I mean, we can't be the friends that lost touch just because you moved away. It's not like it was your fault." He paused to ponder, "Or at least it'd better not."

"How could moving be my fault when I didn't know it was happening until you called me!" Randy shouted incredulously.

"I dunno. You could have said or done something to give your mom the idea."

Randy put a finger to his jaw in thought, "No, I don't think so. Not really."

The movers lowered the door to the U-Haul and the simple grey sedan in front of it honked its horn twice.

"I- I gotta go." Randy held out his fist for a fist bump which was reciprocated. Neither could quell the tears that were threatening to spill. One of the movers picked Randy up with a furniture dolly and wheeled him to the car. Once Randy got in, the car drove off.

Inside the vehicle, as Randy was buckling in, his mother patted his head. "I'm sorry, honey. I promise I had a better surprise in mind, but then work came up and just," she sighed, "ruined all my nicely laid out plans." It was easy to see where Randy got most of his looks from. Kaitlyn Cunningham had nearly waist-length hair that was the same vibrant shade of purple as Randy. It was hard to count how many times folks saw them together asked if they get mother-son hair dye sessions. Though it was rare, both her and her son were blessed with such unique hair color. She wore simple jeans, a white polo, and wore her white trainers, hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. She looked at Randy and sighed again. "It was great, and a little funny. We were going to just drive around a little bit at first before heading to the new house."

"Then something came up, right?"

"Right." Silence prevailed for a few minutes. "We were going to move next door to the Weinerman's."

"Cool," Randy said dejectedly. Kaitlyn smirked and counted down from three on her hand. In the end, he bolted up and nearly shouted. "What!?"

She chuckled, "Yeah, then work threatened to just drop me altogether if I didn't move to a new city."

"Wonk."

She sighed and the look on her face said she was more than just tired. "I know. I wish I had a better choice, but there aren't many places to work in Norrisville as a psychiatrist. My place of business is partnered with another company in this other city. We're just going to have to get used to locking the door even when we're home."

"Oh, man. That kind of place? Where?"

She groaned this time. "Gotham City. I'm going to be working in Arkham Asylum."

"What!? Oh no, my mommy, working that close to the most dangerous criminals in the most dangerous city?! What if something bad happens over there?" He stopped and pondered, "Wait, something bad does happen there, it's Arkham!"

"I know, I know, and Mommy doesn't want to go, but they threatened to blackball me. That's like blackmailing only legal." She was silent for a moment. "If I had a better choice, I would do something else, but this is what we've got," Randy grunted and folded his arms. His mother glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "I do have some good news."

"What?"

"I have to work nights, and if I move my sleep schedule around, I can be awake to hang out with you."

Randy perked up at that. "Seriously? We haven't hung out in _forever_!"

"It feels like it. Hopefully, we can get a few days to hang out for me to get used to my schedule and get you signed up for school. So that way we can get moved in and me used to sleeping in the day."

Content with a solid plan, Randy leaned on the door and looked out the window, seeing the Oklahoma plains sweep by. Realizing they'd have to go to another state in the Northeast Coast region, he frowned a bit. He'd be getting up late and running late by a whole hour. Almost as bad as when he first had to get used to Daylight Savings time every year. He frowned. A whole hour difference from Norrisville to Gotham City. He couldn't call Howard during lunch break and he'd have to wait an hour to call him after school. Would his friendship be over? I hope he at least hangs out with the guys, Randy thought morosely, desiring nothing more than to be able to hang out with his mother and his best friend. _Except Doug, that guy just kinda hangs around, _Randy thought.

Right after that, his phone starts ringing with his theme. "You might want to get that," his mother said, "it could be Howard." She chuckled the last words.

Pulling out his phone, Randy saw that his caller ID did indeed indicate that Howard was calling him. Answering, "Howard, buddy, it's been like five minutes. We hadn't even hit the highway yet!"

"WHY ARE YOU MOVING!" Randy wrenched his head away from the phone as fast as he could at the first word of the shout. Until he was sure it was safe, he put it back to answer only to be interrupted. "Seriously, you were supposed to say in Norrisville forever and we'd be friends forever, why is your mom moving?"

"Seriously? Forever?" After some more whining and prodding on Howard's part, Randy relented, "Turns out, Mom's employers pulled a fast one on her and we have to move to a different city if she still wants to be a psychologist."

"Your mom's a shrink? Does she know about, you know?"

"No, no. Also, how did you not know Mom was a psychologist? Anyways, you will not be happy with where we are going."

"Oklahoma City? Kansas? California?" Howard asked distractedly.

"Gotham City."

There was a palpable silence over the phone as Howard processed what Randy just said. Randy inched the phone away from his head again before not a second later Howard cried out, shouting no into the phone. This lasted for three minutes. He took twenty breaths just to keep it up! Kaitlyn simply chuckled at Howard's absurd reaction. The rest of the ride was relatively uneventful with the occasional distressed calls from Howard.

* * *

Inside the Batcave, the Caped Crusader himself stood in front of his supercomputer, looking at all the information on the newest psychiatrist to grace Arkham Asylum.

Kaitlyn Cunningham

Age: 36

Hair: Purple

Hight: 5'9"

Ethnicity: White

City of Origin: Norrisville, OK

That last piece of information kept him starring. He then pulled up all the information on Norrisville. Robot attacks, monster sightings, and to top it all, the Ninja himself. It was obvious to Batman that the Ninja was either a shapeshifter (less likely) or a new person every four or so years (most likely).

"Whatcha lookin' at, Bruce? New recruit?" Robin, the Boy Wonder had walked in recently with nary a sound that would have been missed by the average person. Batman wasn't average.

"Very funny," he replied dryly. "Rather I haven't met this hero since it was brought to my attention. I've been meaning to do so and the new hire for Arkham simply reminded me to do so when we weren't too busy."

"Since when were we not busy?" Robin smirked. Batman simply returned the comment with his patented glare. He then closed out all the windows associating with Norrisville.

"Come on. We have work to do."


	2. First Day of School

Everything was moved in. In Randy's mind, anyhow. All the boxes were inside, and that counted for something, right? Evidently, his mother wasn't amused and had him at least open his boxes and sort through as much as he could. He was interrupted twice and ended up using his Bluetooth just to speak with Howard and not get in trouble.

"Seriously, we got held up three times due to accidents and I thought I saw a couple of muggers a few blocks before we pulled up! This place is wonkin' crazy!" He was shelving some games on his entertainment center, explaining what had happened since Randy entered city limits.

"_Well that's messed up,_" Howard replied. Sounds of a Grave Puncher game came from the background over Randy's Bluetooth. "_Your is your mom a ninja, too?_" Howard asked with a sarcastic voice.

"Oh please, I wish," Randy responded honestly. He glanced over another iteration of Grave Puncher, "You know how much easier it would be living here? Not being worried all the time?"

"_Yeah, don't know what that's like. Oh, wait. Norrisville,_" came Howard's dry reply.

"Try dialed to eleven!"

"_Right. Gotham._"

"Sweetie!" Kaitlyn's voice carried through the small apartment they were in, "Can you do me a favor?"

"One second, Howard," Randy stated before taking the earbud out of his ear and turned to his mother, "Yes, Mommy?"

"Could you take up the box that says, 'living room'? The small one!"

"Sure thing, Mommy!" He then put his earbud back in to hear Howard laughing raucously. "What?"

"_Seriously? You still call her Mommy? Not Mom?_"

"What? She's my mommy no matter what. She said so! Also, it makes her happy."

"_If you say so,_" Howard relented. "_Anyways, what are you going to do now_?"

"Well, since we don't really have internet for a few days, talk to you and play a Grave Puncher game I've beaten like twenty times," Randy grunted under the strain of lifting the requested box. "Jeeze sure is heavier than I would have thought." A second glance told why. "Whoops, not the smallest box."

"_Well, as much as I would love to hear your commentary on moving, Cunningham, -spoiler alert, I don't- I've got games to play and you've got stuff to move around._"

Randy sighed, "Yeah, you're right, you're right. It's just that I'm going to be so _bored_."

"_Well, I don't know what to tell ya other than you're shoobed, buddy,_" Howard said in a firm tone, "_so you may want to get on it._"

"Yeah, yeah, don't gotta tell me twice."

"_Later, Cunningham!_"

"Later, Howard!" With that, the call ended. Randy let out a loud groan, "I'm bored _already_."

"If you're bored, then bring that box and finish your room!" Kaitlyn shouted, hearing Randy complain.

"But that's the boring part!"

* * *

Randy and Kaitlyn were sitting on their couch in their new living room. Cable and internet had yet to be set up, so they had put in a DVD into the underused player for the TV. Randy sat in his mother's cross-legged lap as she rested her chin on her son's head. They were both draped in a blanket as they watch an old horror movie together, laughing at the cheesiness of it all. Randy then glanced up, only slightly lifting his head, "Mommy, it's great we get to hang out for a bit, but," he paused, "how long until you have to go back to work?"

His mother sighed, "About two days from now, but hey, it's late, and you need to go to bed. You start school tomorrow."

"But tomorrow's Friday."

"Yes, and?"

"Do I have to?"

"Yes!" Kaitlyn's response was lifted with laughter.

"Oh, come on!" Randy groaned out. "We just moved, don't I get a break, too?"

"You will if you behave. I might let you get away with your bedroom being half-finished for the weekend."

"Really?"

"Might."

Randy harrumphed and diverted his attention to the flick as the end was approaching. "It'd be nice to have more nights like this."

"I think that's a possibility, the cable and internet guys aren't going to be here until late Monday."

* * *

Randy stood in front of Gotham High. His mother already waved him off after a quiet goodbye to minimize public humiliation. He looked to his left and right expecting Howard to be there, only to deflate upon remembering he was in another state far away from his best friend of nearly thirteen years now. Getting to the office and retrieving his schedule was easy. Finding out where he was supposed to go was the tricky part. He ended up to his first class just as the bell rang.

"Sorry, I'm late!" He held out his class schedule for the teacher, "I'm kinda new here."

The older man studied the sheet presented to him and smiled, "Well, it's nice to meet you, why don't you introduce yourself to the class."

Randy took a cursory glance around the room and saw all his fellow classmates that he wondered if he would get to know like back home. "Hi, my name's Randy Cunningham and I'm from Norrisville, Oklahoma." A cough responded and a few waves. His confidence faded a bit from that.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Randy," the teacher volunteered. "I'm Mr. Anderson and I'm sure you've noticed, but this is my Geometry class. Take a seat behind Artemis, the young lady with the long blonde hair, there, and we'll get started."

Randy took his spot and took out a notebook and started doodling along with taking down some notes. There were formulas scratched around swords, sai, rings, and even a sketch of the swirl that was on the front of both his current shirt and his ninja suit. By the end of the first class, Randy got a new math book and his notebook was more of a sketchbook. New school, same study habits. He took out his schedule and looked at the next class he was to have. Mrs. Hawkins: English.

"Oh, rough, you have her right after Mr. Anderson?" Randy jumped a bit as he turned to his right. There was the blonde girl, Artemis. "Sorry about that, but you might want to prep yourself before you head in there."

"Uh, why?" he inquired.

"Because Mrs. Hawkins is a big stickler for rules, and I have the same class. God, I hate her."

"Huh, well, that's wonk."

Artemis snorted a bit, "What?"

"What?"

"You said, 'wonk' like someone spoiled your lunch."

Randy chuckled, "Yeah, my town has its own slang. Really though, only us teens or the kids have it. Adults kinda grew out of it or never really got into it when it started up." He held up his hand and began counting off his fingers, "Wonk, shoob, the cheese, Bruce, whomp, honkin', juice, stuff like that."

"Well, that 'Bruce' thing might catch on with some people here in Gotham." She pulled out her phone and winced, "Aw man, we gotta hurry!" Artemis grabbed Randy by his upper arm and dragged him down the hall as a run with only a protest of "Hey!" from him. They both made it to class just before the bell rang and Randy repeated the process of introducing himself to the English teacher. She was meaner than he was told.

* * *

Two more classes and Randy sat in the cafeteria alone by a corner with his bagged lunch. He didn't see Artemis then and didn't want to intrude. "She's probably got her own friends to hang out with, anyways." Right as he was about to open his lunch bag, someone big ran by him, snatching it up into the air. "Come on! What the juice, man?" Randy had to look up to the behemoth of a student. Randy was a lanky kid, but this guy's chest was level with Randy's face! He was built up with muscle and had a padded layer of fat on top. He wore a black and gold letterman jacket and had combed brown hair and matching brown eyes that glinted in mischievousness as he held the bag lunch aloft.

"'What the juice?' You guys hear this? Norrisville is full of lame-o's!"

Randy gasped in what most would consider dramatic or even comical, "You take that back!"

"Why's Brent gotta take anything back?" The muscular student replied in third-person.

"'Cause there's the Ninja, that's why! He's the brucest guy in town and saved the city more times that you can count!" Randy stood up and took an offensive stance.

"What are you, his number one fan?"

"Yes," Randy crossed his arms proudly, "yes I am. Have been since I was six."

The bully laughed loudly then he swung his empty fist, slugging Randy on the shoulder hard enough to get him to collapse to the ground. "You like that lame hero? Supposed to be 800 years old? As if your town is that old, this country's only been around for like two hundred years! What are ya, stupid?"

"C student, actually, but I know for a fact that we have an 800-year-old ninja and town!" Randy pointed defiantly at his accuser from his downed position before righting himself.

"If you want to prove it so bad to me, then after school, why don't you meet me out in the student parking lot?"

"I don't have to prove anything to you, knowing it's true is good enough for me," Randy crossed his arms again.

Brent snorted, "Then I'm telling you," he got into Randy's face and poked his chest with each phrase for emphasis, "Student parking lot. Today. Three p.m. Sharp." He then smirked as he crushed Randy's lunch in the hand that was carrying it, causing the contents to drip and crumble. Brent threw the destroyed lunch onto the ground at Randy's feet before storming off with a satisfied smirk as though he had won something.

Randy knelt and grumbled as he picked up his destroyed lunch, fruit cup spilled everywhere making the whole thing unappetizing. Relenting, he walked over to the lunch counter to get some food. "Stupid Brent. Why'd he go and do that? At least he's no Bash, that's for sure. But he might hit like a Bash if I go to that parking lot…." The cafeteria food was more appetizing than the current state of his lunch, though only by so much. "Well, this is a mile past my school's food," he said to himself, amused.

Before he could order, a tray was held in front of him. The arm was covered in a leather jacket. Following it up led to a head of long, blonde hair. "Here," she said simply.

"Uh, thanks. Artemis, right?"

"Yeah. Remembered my name from class, huh?"

"Kind of hard not to forget," Randy smiled.

"Hey, since you did a cool thing, want to hang out with me and my friends for a bit?"

"Really? All I did was say what I thought."

"Hardly anyone stands up for themselves, let alone in front of Brent," Artemis lamented. "He's on the football team and no one can get him pinned for anything." She led Randy to a table with a group of people smiling as they walked up.

"Well, he's no Bash, that's for sure."

"Bash?"

"Yeah, his full name is Bashford."

The whole table laughed, once voice speaking up, "Oh my gawd, seriously? Bashford?"

"I know!"

"Okay, let me introduce you," Artemis pointed to each of the three people at the table. "The guy with the attitude is Jessie Barns," a flippant 'hey' was given with a glare to Artemis from the gothic kid, "Maggie Wells is the sweet-looking person but don't doubt for a second she's a pyro," a blonde girl with a pink outfit and pigtails giggled and waved with a glint in her eye, making Randy gulp, "and Joshua Lawrence, our normal guy." Joshua, a large kid a bit taller than Randy with dark hair and bushy beard and square-rimmed glasses, only replied with a look on his face that spoke on many levels that Randy could interpret as 'what the hell'. "Guys, this is Randy Cunningham, he's in some of my classes."

"Nice to meet all of you."

It was a pleasant lunch for the group as they got to know one another. Maggie waxed on about setting fire to a chair once in the cafeteria, terrifying poor Randy. Joshua spoke about classes and how troublesome Mrs. Hawkins was for everyone involved, making Artemis repeat a class on top of her current class. Artemis said she would like to teach her a thing or two but didn't want to end up in juvie and disappoint her mother. Jessie just sat there making an odd comment or three. Randy would have told them a bit more about the day-to-day of Norrisville minus the monsters, Sorcerer, and Ninja, but they ran out of time and had to rush to the next class.

* * *

The rest of the day flew by quickly ending with a study hall for Randy. Seems he only had Artemis during his first two classes and the others must have had higher classes to study for. Remembering his encounter with Brent, Randy decided to excuse himself early just a few minutes into the study hall. The teacher presiding was asleep at his desk. A few light steps and a messenger bag slung securely around his shoulder, he quietly slipped out the door. However, he wasn't out of the woods, yet. He tapped into the power he had as a ninja and heightened his senses. One – no, two – teachers on patrol. And they were about to converge on the spot in front of him. "Conceal!" Randy whispered in a squeak to himself and to his relief, he did vanish from sight. Both teachers passed in front of him as he hid in the shadow of the doorframe. Once out of sight, he let out a held breath and moved, breaking the stealth and quietly bolted for the front doors. Once there he stopped and listened. There were voices outside, so he opened the doors just a bit. No one directly in front and the street was so tantalizingly close. Though there were still voices nearby.

"I'm tellin' ya, this kid didn't know a thing and doesn't know his place. So, Brent here's gonna have ta teach him."

Randy quietly closed the door and whispered to himself, "Oh, great, I'm shoobed. He's out there? Probably waiting for me to show up in case I chicken out." He paused and thought to himself. "Pros: He gets off my back until something else pops up. Cons: I get the snot beaten out of me. Hrm." After a moment of pondering, Randy shrugged and silently opened the doors, peering out to the right where he heard the speaker a few moments ago. There he was, Brent, top dog football player and leagues smarter than Bash, sitting on the hood of a red sports car talking to two girls who had to be cheerleaders, with their black and silver uniforms. The only question for Randy was where was Brent on intelligence? Was he still a bit dumbed down due to brain damage or was he getting better grades than Randy was? Perhaps even he was dense and didn't notice him as Randy crept down the sidewalk. Halfway in doing so, Brent called out to Randy, causing him to wince in both pain and disappointment at being discovered. Pulling back the sensitivity on his senses, he turned to face the bully.

"How about that, the dweeb's early on his beat down!" Brent exclaimed, punching his fist into his open hand.

"Look, I really don't want to fight you. Ever," Randy explained, though it fell on deaf ears as his shirt was roughly grabbed and Randy found him at eye level with his aggressor.

"I don't care if you don't want to fight, you loser," Brent sneered, "but you are going to take your beating like a man!" Randy flinched and covered his face with his arms as he turned away, only to be surprised with a wind-knocking punch to the gut. He was instantly reminded of the time he took a soccer ball to the gut when trying to increase his celebra-web-dom. Another hit, this time to his now unprotected face due to dropping his arms and he was reminded of the same instance, only worse. Not quite robo-apes. The guy was almost built like one! "And that's only with my left arm! Imagine what I could do with the right! Oh, yeah, I guess you won't have to!" The bully sneered again and released Randy, only to hit him with a haymaker. He spun once before collapsing, a weak 'ow' came from Randy's prone form. He did, however, shakily got to his feet and gave a weak chuckle.

"Well, you sure showed me," Randy gave a weak swing of his arm in faux enthusiasm, "I'm going to go home now and rethink today!" His face fell instantly, and he began shuffling to the gates.

"Hold up, I'm not done yet!"

Randy couldn't stifle a groan, "Seriously? You're three times my size! What the juice did I do that cheesed you off so bad that you have to beat me up?"

"For one, your lingo and slang is dumb, for another, your hero is a loser in disguise, and lastly, you get on my nerves!" At the last word, Brent swung his right fist under and completely knocked the wind out of Randy, causing him to collapse. As this happened, a grey sedan just pulled up to the curb and a purple-haired woman all but launched herself out of the car.

"Randy! My baby! Are you okay!?" Kaitlyn rushed over to her son's side and slowly lifted him upright. She glared up at the bully who looked shocked. "And who the hell are you to think you can hurt my son like that?"

Brent was taken back, the newcomer's glare was intense and wrathful, all he could do was stammer. "Well, you see – but I – He started –"

"I don't care who started what, but you don't have any right to hit my son! Who are you? I should call the authorities for pummeling my son for who knows how long before I got here!" She stood up and placed her hands on her hips. Regardless that she was tall, she was still equal to his hight.

"Mom, you don't need to do anything, we're good! I'm not hacking up blood or anything so there's that," Randy said, attempting to defuse the situation. He gingerly got on his feet as well. "Also, I know he doesn't look it, but he's a student, too."

"What?" Kaitlyn was legitimately surprised at this revelation. She turned back to Brent, "You are far too big to be a high schooler. That still won't change my mind on calling the police on you for assaulting my _son_." With a final glare, the footballer turned and high tailed it. She then turned her matronly glare at Randy. "So," she started, "care to tell me why you are out of class already and why that young man was pummeling out."

Randy groaned and gently rubbed his stomach, "It was study hall and I wanted to avoid him so this wouldn't happen." He winced as he gingerly touched his right eye. "Apparently he doesn't like Norrisville or the Ninja. I never challenged him to a fight once."

"But he wanted to."

"Yup. He's like a smarter Bash," Randy smirked.

Kaitlyn returned the expression, "Everyone is smarter than that boy."

"I _know_!"

* * *

One trip and basic first aid session later, Randy had explained the situation in its entirety to his mother. Both mother and son simply sat at the TV, watching another old horror flick to pass the rest of the day away. It was a good end to a rollercoaster of a day, and the NinjaNomicon didn't even buzz once!

Oh, right. It was in a box. Whoops.

He'll dig that out once his mother goes to bed tomorrow morning.

* * *

_**AN: Had both these chapters written up for a while, figured I aught to post them.**_


	3. The Hangout

It had been a week since he had gotten beaten up by that jerk in school and he had healed up nicely. The NinjaNomicon wasn't happy in the slightest about being forgotten in a box with his other things but carrying it around for the better part of the week got it silent and in his good graces again. Randy was still unsure just what the NinjaNomicon was. Sure, it was a fair-sized tome with a black cover and red trim with a green ninja mask as an adornment on the front cover and the swirled nine on the spine in red. It basically had a mind of its own. It flashed red and buzzed when it needed to tell Randy a lesson he was to learn. It could slam itself into his locker door or his face when the circumstance was dire enough for it. Heck, it even created a mental copy of him and showed him what Randy would be like when he didn't go to the 'Nomicon for anything. It could bring his mind into the book as if speed reading or can practice new techniques that he's shown without physical wear.

Today, however, was another story. The NinjaNomicon buzzed once again, and this time, Randy was dreading it. He kept it under his pillow for the evening and waited for his mother to go to work before even approaching it.

"Okay, 'Nomicon," Randy said hesitantly to the tome, "I'd rather not be mind-wiped just yet, I've still got Gotham to worry about." He picked up the book and opened it. The moment he looked upon the seemingly blank pages, his mind was gently plucked from him and he found himself tumbling through the landscape of the book. He fell through the air and landed on a pagoda-style roof of a developing town, knocking the wind out of him. Ancient Norrisville, when it looked like an old Japanese feudal town. Below in the streets, there was a stage surrounded by the local townsfolk the book conjured up. Upon the stage were two fighters, both had a mask but one looked grim whilst the other looked cruel and manic. The grim-masked fighter was beginning to lose. Then a doodle version of Randy as the Ninja appeared at the side of Grim and drew out their sword. Grim quickly pushed them aside as they fought Manic. Doodle made some miming motions that they want to help. After getting shoved roughly by Manic, Grim eventually relented. They both uppercut Manic, knocking them out. Words then formed from the loose teeth of the Manic mask and Randy read aloud.

"Sometimes you need to help those that aren't willing to accept it. What the juice, 'Nomicon?" Randy then thought for a moment, "Wait, you aren't mind wiping me? I get to be the Ninja, still?" He whooped from his perch. "Aw yeah, Gotham, look out, 'cause a bruce new hero called the Ninja is here to stay!"

Both Doodle and Grim facepalmed, noticing Randy had, once again, not quite gotten the message. Randy's stay on the pagoda roof suddenly became precarious and had roughly deposited him onto the ground. The shock of hitting the ground sent his mind out of the NinjaNomicon and to his awkward, floored position, drooling in front of the book. Getting up and wiping the drool from his face, Randy silently thanked the 'Nomicon and settled in for bed. He'll get the hang of a night schedule later, right now, he needed some rest.

* * *

School was pretty much the same. Dodge angry looks from mean teachers and students, hang out with the small group he made friends with, finish out the day the way it started, head home. Normally. He was about to leave when he heard Maggie, in her signature pink, call out his name. She waved him over to the small group of four. "Randy! You have got to hang out with us tonight! There's going to be a party over at a local teen club called-."

"To be honest, if it's called Club Super Awesome Teen Time Club, you can count me out."

A spattering of chuckles and snorts resounded from the group. Jessie flips his hair just slightly asking, "What the hell is a club doing with that name?"

"Was," Randy corrected, "There was a club with that name, but it turns out it was a trap for teens to lure the Ninja. He showed up, saved the day."

"That's still a dumb club name," Jason remarked, adjusting his glasses.

Artemis nudged him with an elbow, "Anyways, it's called The Hangout with rocking music that all of us actually enjoy to some degree and a dry bar."

"Dry bar?" Randy parroted in confusion.

"Dry bar, as in no alcohol," Maggie clarified. "They don't want any of us minors drinking the fun stuff, now do they?"

"I think I'll stay away from it, all the same," Randy remarked.

"Which is a great idea, because I don't want to know what would happen if anyone, let alone Maggie, got drunk," Artemis replied. "Anyways, you in?"

Randy was about to respond when a familiar car horn made itself known. "One second, need to check with the parental figure," he said sheepishly.

"It's cool," Jessie responded.

At the car, Randy spoke with his mother in a hushed, yet excited tone after thrusting his head through the open passenger window, "Mommy, could I please hang out with Artemis and some friends? We're going to a place called The Hangout and there's no alcohol because it's a teen place! Please, please, please?" Randy made his eyes as pleading as possible with a large grin plastered to his face. Kaitlyn smiled and patted his head.

"Sure, honey but be sure to call me when you need to be picked up, and text me the address! It's faster for me to find that way."

Randy fist-pumped and jumped in the air, barely clearing his head from the car first having leaned in during his request. "Don't worry, I'll call, text, all that stuff! Love ya, bye!" He sped off back to the group. Once he made it back, he got a text from her stating, _-Congrats on the friends! I knew you'd make some sooner or later here!_ He texted back a thanks and put his phone away. "I got an okay! So, where's it at? My mom wants to know the address so she can get me if she needs to."

* * *

The Hangout was one of those places that looked like it couldn't decide if it was trending or making a comeback. Neon lights, dubstep, and rock and roll alternately blared from the speakers, old guitars hanging on the walls, '80's style of the waitstaff. There were a few wander and meander about, taking orders, keeping an eye on the troublemakers, and calling security when things got a bit out of hand. Artemis lead the group in and grabbed a table for them all near the dance floor as it blared alternative music. A blond waitress with mid-length pigtails strode up to their table, a huge smile plastered on her face. "Hi! What can I get ya?" A few orders of soda and greasy fries and the waitress took their menus and left for the kitchens. Jessie bobbed his head to the music an almost disinterested manner, Maggie was full on dancing in her seat, and Artemis, Jason, and Randy were just sitting in their spots, Randy's grin was enough to rival the waitress's.

"So, what do you think of the place?" Artemis half-shouted to Randy.

"It's pretty Bruce! I could hang out here more often."

"Well, it's not called The Hangout for nothing, just wait until you try the food!"

Some more small talk later and the waitress returned with their food. "Here ya go, sugars! By the way, I'm new here so just let me know if I need to be doing something. Boss tells me you are regulars!" She then looks at the group again, "Well, most of ya. I'm Harls, by the way. It's what my friends call me, anyhow."

Maggie waved at Harls, "Hi, Harls! I'm Maggie, that's Jason, Jessie, Artemis, and Randy!" She points to everyone in that order. She keeps pointing at Randy, "He's new here, but I think he likes this place already. He called it 'Bruce' and I think that's lingo from his town meaning, 'cool'."

Harls smiled, "Well, ain't that just nifty! I've been told I talk like I'm from the forties or fifties, but eh, what'cha gonna do?" She started walking away, "I got to get back to my shift, but I'll be back later to check up on ya!" She then disappeared back behind an employee only door.

"She seemed nice," Randy spoke up.

"Yeah," Maggie replied thoughtfully, "though she seemed familiar."

"So, we just keep an eye on her, that's all. She shows up, we watch out, nothing happens, we go home, right?" Jason responded.

"Sounds about right!" Randy interceded. "Paranoid, but right. First, let's chow down then I'll show you how it's done on the dance floor, yeah!"

Randy thought he was killing it on the dance floor. In truth, he kind of was, if his moves weren't some crazed combination of comical and inspiring. Either way, it got nearly every teen on the dance floor, barring Jessie, but he had his camera out and taking pictures while laughing the whole time and once cackled at a routine that Randy randomly strung together from at least twenty different music videos he saw at once. After an hour of dancing, Randy made his way to the table where Jessie was reviewing and laughing at the footage he had gotten.

"Hey, Jessie, what'cha laughing at there?" Jessie showed him the footage that he was editing from his phone. "Oh, sweet cheese that's _hilarious!_ Dude, you gotta post that!"

"Seriously? You want me to post this?"

"Heck yeah! Bound for celebriwebdom!"

"Celebri-what now?"

"Celebriwebdom! Celebrity and the web mashed into celebriwebdom. You ever gotten top views?"

"Ha, nope." Jessie went back to editing the footage. "Never been interested in mainstream things, anyways, but whatever you were doing was all and none of that at the same time. I just had to catch it on film."

Right then, Harls had arrived back at their table. "Hey there, can I interest you kiddos in anything else? Looks like you tore through them chili cheese fries!" A couple of no's chorused between the two boys. "Ah well. You kiddos have a good time, now!" She picked up the food and left to the back area of the business for employees only.

The rest of the night was uneventful. Randy took out his phone and texted his mother to pick him up.

* * *

The Batwing landed gently in the Batcave, Batman stepped out of the vehicle. It seems his discreet visit to Norrisville was a bust. No monsters or robots showed up to draw out the Ninja. Even the petty crime was well handled by the competent police force and nothing ever really escalated. His scowl was etched further on his face than before. He went over to the Batcomputer and did a secondary search for the Ninja himself. He wanted to get answers from the Ninja directly, but now he'll have to draw his own conclusions for now. Different images of the ninja in all shapes, sizes, and eye colors were there. Even the skin tone varied. There were a few theories that folks had on the internet that Batman had to concede to. Either A) the Ninja was a shapeshifter of some form and took on a new appearance every four years or so to throw off anyone wanting to know who was under the mask or B) the Ninja was a new person every four or so years for the same reason. A lot of people in Norrisville were adamant about the former, but after researching and seeing some footage from podcasts and local security footage, Batman was convinced of the latter. In fact, he had a good idea now where the current Ninja was. He brought up Kaitlyn's information again and scanned the page. She had a son that was going on fifteen years now. Same eyes and skin tone as the current Ninja.

Even if the rest of Norrisville thought it debunked, Batman knew better.

Randy Cunningham was the Ninja, and he was in Gotham.

* * *

**_AN: And I had this lying around unfinished so I wrapped up the chapter. Note, I have a poll up._**


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